Perchance to Rest
by dwparsnip
Summary: Rodney has been overdoing it and Sheppard has had enough. McKay and Keller pairing.


Stargate Atlantis and its characters are owned my MGM…not me.

Hasn't been run by a beta, so all mistakes are mine and mine alone.

Any thoughts and comments are welcome.

Thanks for reading.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Don't touch that!"

Sheppard's hand stopped its forward progress and hovered a mere couple of inches from the piece of inert ancient technology. Keeping perfectly still, Sheppard moved his gaze from the device to his left where a very angry looking McKay was pointing at him. The scowl on the scientist's face was so pronounced that Sheppard nearly grimaced.

Thank God the day was pretty much over.

He'd gotten the call fifteen minutes earlier to come down and see if his abnormally potent ATA gene could activate some sort of Ancient doohickey that no one else could get to work…not even McKay.

He should have known better in retrospect. It was late and even over the radio he could tell that McKay's voice was strained. He should have avoided the lab like the proverbial plague, but he had his work for the day finished and had nothing better to do.

Damn it.

He slowly withdrew his hand from the machine, and when he deemed himself clear enough from it he turned to McKay.

"You're the one who called me down here in the first place, Rodney," said Sheppard calmly. He then pointed to Kavanagh who was now cowering on the other side of the room. "And he told me to activate it."

Rodney, tablet in his hand and scowl still on his face, rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration. "And how many times have I told you not to listen to a word that man says?"

"Excuse me! I'm right here you…" Kavanagh tried, but stopped and backed farther away when Rodney gave him a pointed glare.

Satisfied Kavanagh was silenced for the moment, Rodney turned his attention back to Sheppard. "And I've told you many times not to touch anything in my lab unless I am personally watching you, and if I'm not available Zelenka has to be here." He pointed to blackened patch on the ceiling off to Sheppard's right, and in a voice that everyone in the lab could hear and understood was meant for them to hear, "I'm sure we all remember the fireworks display that happened the last time someone tried to turn something on without my supervision? Hmn?"

"Easy, Rodney," said Sheppard. "No harm done."

"Only because I was here to stop you this time!" exclaimed Rodney. "What's going to happen the next time if I'm not here? I swear you people are trying to…"

Rodney stopped in mid rant and moved his hand up to the right side of his head where his fingers tried their best to knead the sharp pain out of his temple.

Sheppard frowned and moved swiftly to his friend's side. When he reached him he put his hand on Rodney's shoulder and asked quietly, "What's wrong? Are you…"

"I'm fine," replied Rodney as he shrugged away from Sheppard's hand.

Sheppard's frown deepened. Rodney's response held none of the bark or bite that he had come to expect from Rodney. In fact, the man sounded exhausted.

"When was the last time you slept?" asked Sheppard, already having a pretty good idea of the answer.

"Who has time to sleep?" asked Rodney as he ran his hand roughly over his face.

Sheppard grabbed Rodney's right arm and began tugging him towards the door. "You do." When Rodney began to struggle Sheppard turned around and put his hands on Rodney's shoulders and looked him square in the eyes. "It's getting late and you're bone tired, Rodney, and you're even more irritable than usual. I bet that if I asked everyone here they would tell me that you've been in here all day yelling at people for no good reason." Sheppard gave Rodney a gentle shake for the sake of emphasis. "You're so tired and wound up so tight you're going to get someone hurt."

Rodney opened his mouth to say something, but then his eyes closed and he whispered, "Everything hurts." He opened his eyes and looked to John. "My head, my shoulders, my back, my legs, my arms…it all aches."

Sheppard couldn't help but feel sorry for his friend. Besides the numerous and often difficult missions they went on, Rodney usually came home and kept working while he, Teyla and Ronon could take some time and rest up. Rodney did a lot more than anyone gave him credit for, though he would never admit that to him. It really was a miracle that the man hadn't lost it.

Sheppard moved his hand to Rodney's back and gently nudged him out of the lab. They turned left to go to the residential section and John said, "I know, Rodney. I feel the same way after going at it for too long." He tapped Rodney's back reassuringly. "All you need is a good night of rest and you'll be back to your usual charming self."

Sheppard smirked when Rodney grunted in amusement.

It only took a couple of minutes to get to Rodney's quarters, and it was a weird couple of minutes for Sheppard as Rodney hadn't so much as muttered a single syllable along the way, not even a complaint. Sheppard passed his hand over the door's control panel and it slid open. To his relief, Rodney walked in without any prodding and sat down on the foot of his bed.

"Good night, Sheppard," said Rodney quietly. "Thank you."

It was truly a testament to how tired Rodney was that he thanked him instead of yelling at him for tearing him away from his precious lab.

"Good night, Rodney," answered Sheppard. He stepped back and after the door closed he shook his head and headed for his own quarters.

He'd only gotten a few feet away when the ease of it all hit him and suspicion bubbled to the surface. He turned around and walked back to Rodney's door, leaned in towards it and listened inside. He could hear nothing, but that didn't mean that Rodney had listened to him and gone straight to bed. He waited another minute and then slid his hand over the panel again. The door slid open, and Sheppard cursed when he saw Rodney sitting at his desk staring intently at the tablet that Sheppard forgot he had in his hands when they left the lab.

"Rodney!" exclaimed Sheppard loudly.

It got the desired effect and Rodney jumped in his seat. "Damn it, Sheppard!" he yelled as he turned towards the door. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"No, Rodney," said Sheppard as he crossed his arms across his chest. "I'm trying to save you from yourself. Now go to bed and get some rest. That's an order."

Rodney's eyes bulged open before narrowing in anger. "You can't order me around like one of your nothing between the ears…"

"Careful, McKay," warned Sheppard. "And yes I can. You're a member of my team and as your team leader I am ordering you to go to bed and get some sleep."

McKay sat still for a moment, trying to decide between telling Sheppard to go to hell and playing along with him long enough to be left in peace so he could do some more work. Deciding option B was the way to go he got up, took off his jacket and plopped down on the bed.

"Good night, Rodney," said Sheppard.

He smirked when Rodney mumbled something that he couldn't quite pick out and stepped back and let the door close. He started home again, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Rodney wasn't going to listen…to him at least.

He reached up to his ear and tapped his comm. unit. "Sheppard to the Infirmary…hey Doc. Listen, could you call McKay and tell him he needs to get some sleep?"

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Rodney waited for a few minutes to make sure that Sheppard was gone before getting up and sitting down at his desk again. He did appreciate what Sheppard was trying to do, he really did, but there was simply too much work to be done. He had just gotten relatively comfortable in his under padded chair and started working on the power distribution problem for the east pier when the door chime sounded.

Before he could even think about jumping up and diving back into bed the door slid open. "Will you please go home and leave me alone!" exclaimed Rodney as he buried his head in his hands.

"Hello, Rodney."

Rodney's head shot up and turned to the door so fast it literally hurt. "Jennifer?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled and said playfully, "I can leave if you want me to."

"No," he answered immediately. "I mean, stay, if you want to that is."

She walked over to where he was sitting and placed her hands on his shoulders, frowning deeply when she felt just how tense he was. She started a gentle massage with her fingertips, hitting the delicate and sensitive pressure points over and over again.

"You have to take better care of yourself, Rodney," she said as she massaged along his shoulders.

Rodney groaned contentedly in response and she couldn't help but smile.

Being a doctor had its advantages…

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sheppard paused as he reached for the door's controls. He really didn't want to get Rodney up so early, especially after seeing just how tired the man was last night, but the mission briefing had to be done.

With a silent prayer he reached over to sound the chime, and nearly jumped back and drew his sidearm when the door wooshed opened before he had a chance to go near the panel. A second later Rodney walked spryly out of the room with a country mile wide smile on his face.

"Good morning, Colonel," greeted McKay as he walked by. He was so shocked and Rodney was walking so fast that he had to run to catch up to him.

"Good morning, Rodney," said Sheppard carefully as he fell into step beside his friend. "How are you feeling this morning?"

McKay nodded. "Very well, thank you."

"Good," replied Sheppard. "I guess the rest I _ordered_ you to get did some good after all."

McKay nodded again. "Yes. The rest, the massages, the…"

"Massages?" asked Sheppard abruptly. His eyes narrowed in suspicion and perhaps even a little envy if what he suspected was true.

McKay grinned proudly as he nodded for the third time in a matter of a minute. "Oh yes. There's nothing like having a beautiful, brilliant, extremely talented and incredibly dexterous doctor for a girlfriend."

Sheppard slowed to a stop, his mouth slightly ajar in surprise and yes, envy. As Rodney continued on, John slowly shook his head and said to no one in particular, "Okay…that's just so wrong."


End file.
